Insight
Wivenhoe House is a luxury hotel located on parkland on the outskirts of Colchester. The hotel boasts sixteen individual suites and bedrooms as well as elegant lounges, which are the ideal setting for a relaxing afternoon tea, morning coffee or pre-dinner drinks.
The brief: “We get a lot of trade from University of Essex visitors and the business community but we want to boost leisure trade and awareness of the hotel with the people of Colchester and the surrounds.”
Implementation
We knew we needed to do something very different to grab attention and the media’s headlines.
Wivenhoe has strong connections with artists. We also knew the 200th anniversary of Constable’s ‘Wivenhoe Park’ was fast approaching.
To celebrate the anniversary, we set about creating a fresh version of the painting in partnership with 12 community groups. The local hospice, schools, cubs, National Trust and dementia groups were all invited to take a canvas and complete one section of the famous piece. Each group decided how to re-create their section, via collage, oils, printing or acrylics. When they were complete, the piece was put together and hung on the hotel’s gallery wall.
A media campaign was set up to promote the project from launch through to creation of the pictures and the unveiling.
Impact
The media was excited about the project and wrote enthusiastically about the campaign from start to finish.
Over a 10-week period all 12 community groups completed their artwork in incredibly innovative ways. A brain injury charity supported residents at their home with assisted paintwork. St Helena Hospice shared their canvas with an art therapy group. Children from a multimedia charity took lots of photos and used them to create a striking collage.
The Mayor of Colchester got behind the campaign and encouraged several groups to take part.
The University of Essex also supported the campaign. The arts team tied all their activity into marking the 200th anniversary, with a celebration of Constable.
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“Big Wave PR came up with an innovative idea that helped raise the level of engagement within Colchester and awareness of who we are and what we do.”
